Mob Justice or Mob Violence?

We were in the Team Liberia minibus on our way to work when we noticed a large crowd of people standing on one side of the road in Sinkor Fish Market. In the midst of the crowd were a couple of policemen and some UN patrol vehicles. We drove past quickly. I thought it might have been a road accident. It was only when I got back to the office that I learnt from my colleagues what had happened. A man had reportedly tried to steal something from one of the houses in the area that night, and as a result, the community had descended upon him and had beaten him to death.

This type of mob justice is all too common in countries where there is lack of trust towards formal institutions of law and enforcement. The community sets up their own informal system of retribution in fear that the criminal, if handed over to the police, would end up paying a bribe and walking free.

However, mob justice has its costs. There are numerous instances where innocent men and women have been subjected to mob ‘justice’. When I got home from work, my friend said that she had heard a different version of what had happened at the Fish Market that day. Apparently, a Liberian had returned from America and was trying to locate his fiancée. Because she had moved house since he left, he was knocking on a couple of doors in the area to find out where she was staying. An unfortunate misunderstanding occurred, he was mistaken as a thief, and was killed by the community as a result.

Whichever the true version of the story, it serves as a reminder of the fragility of peace here in Liberia. When people continue to live on a daily basis by the mentality of ‘an eye for an eye’, a sustained improvement in the formal institutions of law and justice will be crucial in guaranteeing long-lasting peace in the country.
Left: The Temple of Justice in Monrovia